«Exploring the role of sport activity involvement on sponsorship effectiveness: The case of a Kick Boxing event»

This research aimed to investigate the sponsorship awareness level of spectators in a kick-boxing event, which took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, and further test the relationship between the Involvement variable with: a) the level of sponsorship awareness and b) spectators’ intentions to buy the sponsors’ products. One hundred and seventy nine spectators (N=179) participated in the study. They filled adjusted versions of the Alexandris et al.’s (1997) and Kyle et al.’s (2006) questionnaires. The results indicated that almost 60% of spectators recognized at least one of the sponsors of the event. Furthermore, Involvement was shown: a) to relate with the level of sponsorship awareness (in terms of the Attraction and Importance dimensions) and b) significantly predict spectators’ intentions to buy products of the sponsors (in terms of the dimension of Attraction). The practical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.